Now X April 2019

THE

FACTOR

Ap r i l 2 0 1 9

Spring. It’s not merely a season. I think of action — of the exciting, positive possibilities about to jump into motion. But I digress into a (mostly) true story. We set our clocks to spring forward one spring and decided to spring for train tickets to Hot Springs to feast on spring rolls during spring break. Though we were no spring chickens, the excitement of the train ride felt like going to a spring fling. The 5-hour ride instead took 12, causing our tempers to spring leaks! The spring-loaded doors could hardly open fast enough. Once there, we sprang into action for one-way airline tickets home at the end of the week! After days of drinking spring water to get the spring fever out of our systems, we flew home to finish spring-cleaning the house. FROM THE DESK OF Terri

THEWORLD’S SILLIESTWORKOUTS I n H onor of A pril F ools ’ D ay

Use this month to springboard yourself into action with a spring in your step!

Dedicated to your success,

It’s no secret that exercise is extremely beneficial for your overall health. And while those benefits are no joke, there are plenty of fitness trends and methodologies that warrant a laugh. It’s hard to take every aspect of the fitness world with stone-faced seriousness, es- pecially when some of the workouts of the past seem like they were devised by comedians rather than trainers. In honor of April Fools’ Day, let’s count down the top-five most off-the-wall, bonkers, and hilarious fitness programs to ever grace home video or the internet. To watch these videos for yourself, you can look them up on YouTube. No. 5: ‘POODLE EXERCISE WITH HUMANS’ This one lands so low on our list only because it’s clear that the tongue-in-cheek nature of the clip is at least partly intentional. Lycra, leg warmers, fanny packs — these have all been de rigueur gym accessories at one point or another. But you generally wouldn’t see a person at the gym wearing prosthetic balls on their arms to resemble a poodle. Nor would you find yourself working out with a pack of half-poodle, half-humans. The clip, created by Panasonic as part of the marketing for the 2004 Athens Olympics, may have been designed for laughs, but the result is bizarre enough to raise eyebrows.